Chapter 12

"Ta-da...!" Kyungsoo presented the food proudly as he put them on the dinner table. His tiny hands skillfully placed the dishes along with the appropriate flatware.

"Today Mrs. Cho allowed me to make one dish. Ooh! And I also made the side dishes." Kyungsoo clasped his hands in excitement, pointing at the Banchan, the side dishes which consisted of seasoned mung bean sprouts and spinach salad, cabbage kimchi salad, and potato pancakes.

Sehun frowned, looking at the main dish Kyungsoo had made. Doenjang Jjigae was more likely a common dish among, well, the commoners. It was unacceptable to be served on noble family's dinner table. His eyebrows creased, expecting to hear scolds coming from his grandfather.

"What is this, Soo Kyung?" Master Oh stared at the soybean stew with an indecipherable gaze.

"Doenjang Jjigae, Master Oh. I made this especially for you," Kyungsoo beamed. His huge orbs enlarged in anticipation, staring at the Oh leader with hands still folded together over his chest. Sehun thought he had seen pink blushes creeping over his grandfather's cheeks. No. He definitely had seen wrong. Master Oh Se Ho simply did not blush. Ever.

"Uh. No meat? Ehm, what did you put in it?"

Sehun quirked an eyebrow. It was unlikely for his grandfather to stammer. He looked as if he was spell bounded or something. Sehun snickered. His grandfather, the leader of the most influential yangban family, would not be stunned easily. To even think about it was ridiculous.

"There are zucchini, enoki mushrooms, tofu, potatoes, and kombu broth as usual. But I added my special weapon in it; Japanese radish. It tastes just like beef, plus it's healthier, yummy...!" Kyungsoo clapped his hands soundlessly, jumping up and down a little. His clear huge eyes stared at Sehun's grandfather with a hopeful look. Sehun could not help but to think that Kyungsoo resembled a puppy much. Maltese. No more than 2-3 months old. Wearing a pearlescent blue ribbon on its head.

As far as he knew, his grandfather was not a dog person. This could not be good.

"Japanese radish?" Sehun's grandfather narrowed his eyes.

Uh-oh. A commoner dish. Without meat. With Japanese radish. Sehun cringed. He had learnt not to mention anything not 'Korean' in front of his grandfather. He should've given a warning to Kyungsoo beforehand. This was bad.

Kyungsoo nodded in determination. "It's good for maintaining your blood pressure, master. You should not eat too much meat or seafood." Kyungsoo shook his head disapprovingly.

Sehuh sighed. Kyungsoo had dropped the last bomb, adding to the tons of dynamites he had put while tip-toeing happily on his short legs along the way. Maybe as he was humming his favorite Pororo song or looking for some free stuff to be cooked into his so-called exquisite cuisine, such as dandelions or Satan’s first born child.

His grandfather had been advised about the matter by the best (Korean) cardiologist, internist, rheumatologist, nutritionist; basically every specialist related to his health. They were all thrown outside, fortunately without any damage, except probably their wounded pride. And Kyungsoo was just gleefully waddling into the highly dangerous zone. He did not even have any '-ist' that came with his name to protect his poor soul. Beside maybe 'masochist'.

"Really?"

"Mm hmm. I also did not boil the doenjang of a heat too long in order to preserve the vitality of the probiotic bacteria." Kyungsoo chimed, flashing a broad smile.

Apparently Sehun was wrong. Kyungsoo still got a lot of bombs under his pearlescent blue chima. The boy was just lightly 'mm hmm' Oh Se Ho, the most powerful clan leader, without the slightest hesitation. Not even the president of South Korea had ever 'mm hmm' him. All the eleven of them (well, his grandfather was only 2 or 3 years old when the first president served the country. The president may or may not have 'mm hmm' his grandfather during his 1st or 2nd term). Sehun breathed heavily. He could not help but feeling sorry for whatever form of rage Kyungsoo might get. He needed to make a move fast to get the boy out of trouble.

"Is that so?" His grandfather responded before Sehun could say anything to save Kyungsoo.

"Tell me more about it. Come, have a seat next to me." Master Oh patted the seat beside him, gesturing Kyungsoo to sit down. Sehun's mouth dropped in astonishment.

"Can I really sit here, master? I don't think it is appropriate," Kyungsoo politely asked, tilting his head questioningly.

"Nonsense. We treat people equally here," Master Oh responded fast. Sehun could see his ears turning red the second he said that. Sehun exchanged glances with his father, who looked as confused -- rather horrified -- as him. He could not believe what was happening, and apparently his grandfather could not as well; his ears were getting even redder.

His grandfather had clearly fallen for Kyungsoo. Maybe he was a dog person, after all.

Kyungsoo happily approached his master and plopped himself on the dining chair.

"Here, help yourself. Take anything you want," Master Oh said as he handed Kyungsoo a bowl, which the boy took gleefully with a wide toothy grin smile.

"So tell me more about the wonder of Japanese radish, Little Soo," Sehun's enthusiastic mother cooed the boy.

"Ah. It's very good to maintain your figure, Aunt Oh! Very low in energy, only 22 cal per 100 gram, but provides 34 percent of RDA of vitamin C! It also contains-" Sehun didn't bother to hear the rest. He just sat there, staring at his mother and grandfather who were in awe, listening to the chirping Maltese.

***

Kyungsoo was prancing cheerfully -- he had entirely forgotten to walk delicately like one of those historical drama stars -- when Master Oh called his name.

"Soo Kyung, where are you going?"

"Good afternoon, Master Oh. I'm going to go outside to feed the fish in the ponds." Kyungsoo grinned, showing him a big jar of fish food in his arms.

"Take this with you then. I got this from someone, and I'm not a fan of sweets," Master Oh said as he handed Kyungsoo a box. Kyungsoo carefully placed the jar on the floor and took the box. He opened the lid and gasped. There were rice cake balls with sprinkles of snow sugar dusted onto the cakes. Kyungsoo could not hide his happiness; his eyes widened in delight, face beaming brightly.

"Are these really for me?" Kyungsoo asked unsurely, eyes staring longingly at the rice cake balls.

"Yes. Stop it. You act as though I am giving you diamonds." Master Oh cleared his throat.

"But...but these are rice cake balls," Kyungsoo mumbled slowly, his gaze fixed on the sweets.

"Exactly. Not diamonds."

"Rice cake balls..." Kyungsoo tilted his head to look at Master Oh with his puppy eyes (Maltese, 2 to 3 months old).

"Y-yes. For you...! Stop looking at me with those eyes," Master Oh stammered, quickly averting his gaze from Kyungsoo. It was a good thing that his daughter-in-law was nowhere near them, otherwise she would've glomped the petite maid already.

"Go eat them somewhere," he went on.

"Thank you, master...!" Kyungsoo clutched the box tightly over his chest, staring at Master Oh with so much thankful lingered in his huge orbs.

***

Sehun finally found Kyungsoo after asking for his whereabouts to every maid he had encountered with. (He looked for Kyungsoo only to make sure he caused no trouble. Definitely not because he had not seen him all day.)

He spotted Kyungsoo sitting next to one of the ponds, on the well-trimmed grass. The boy's bare feet swayed slowly over the pond, carefully not to reach the water surface. His low-rise shoes were placed neatly next to him.

Wearing his traditional hanbok, Kyungsoo surprisingly merged with the environment well. Sehun could picture him in one of the traditional Korean painting, along with the evergreen trees, rockeries, and decorative pavilions.

The wind blew toward the boy, naughtily messing with his fringe. Kyungsoo tilted his head upward, closing his eyes to enjoy the breeze. Sehun breathed sharply. Kyungsoo was beautiful. Without he realized he had walked toward the boy. "Kyungsoo..." He said softly. The boy's feet stopped swaying when he heard Sehun's voice calling for him. Kyungsoo turned his head with his eyes lightening up.

"Sefhuna...!" Bits of food flew out of his mouth. Kyungsoo's chubby cheeks were getting chubbier from being full of food. His lips were smeared with some kind of white powder. So much for being in a traditional painting.

Kyungsoo grinned (or attempted to, as his cheeks were too puffy to pull out a proper grin), as he was munching his food happily. Once in a while he threw something toward the pond, which was taken by the fish really fast.

Sehun narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Are you eating fish food?"

Kyungsoo's eyes widened. He nearly got choked as he eagerly tried to defend himself from the false accusation. He chomped his food, gulping down the food inside his mouth in one go before he was able to muster an answer.

"Of course not! I will not ever eat anything that doesn't belong to me!" He pouted, displeased because of the accusation. So you would want to eat fish food if it belonged to you, then.

"I'm eating rice cake balls, silly. Do you want some?" Kyungsoo kindly offered the box of rice cake balls on his lap, which was turned down immediately by Sehun.

"No, thanks. I don't eat sweets."

"Just like Master Oh," Kyungsoo giggled with a tinkling laugh. Sehun was mesmerized, bedazzled by the view of the boy laughing.

"Look at those fish, Sehun. So beautiful." Kyungsoo chirped, distracting Sehun from his dazing state. His finger was pointing at the fish that were fighting for food. Apparently you are able to admire the beauty on a non-human living thing, not just consider them as food, Sehun thought.

"With freshwater fish, I think it's best to deep-fried them, or maybe to bake them. It is hard to eliminate the fishy odor if we chose to steam them instead," Kyungsoo went on, tapping his lips in deep thinking. I thought wrong. Of course you would just casually think of the best way to put the nishigoi fish worth of millions won on the dinner plate.

"Do you even know what kind of fish we put inside the ponds?" Sehun asked with a shrewd suspicion.

"Carps!!" Kyungsoo answered excitedly. Oh well. Close enough.

"But Master Oh loves them, so I will take good care of them." Kyungsoo nodded reassuringly.

The mention of his grandfather's name drew Sehun's attention. "Did my grandfather give you a hard time?" He asked in concern.

Kyungsoo shook his head vigorously, his braided hair bounced wildly left and right. "No! Master Oh treats me really well. Look! He even gave me this yummy rice cake balls!" He lifted the box on his lap, showing Sehun eagerly.

"And I like your family so much. You should be grateful to have them." Kyungsoo smiled with sincerity, staring at Sehun with his crescent shaped eyes.

Sehun could not utter a word, overcome with awe. His gaze trailed over Kyungsoo's delicate features; to the pair of clear orbs, the adorable cheeks decorated with tints of pinkish blushes, and landed on the boy's pink plump lips.

He snapped out of his thoughts, quickly trying to search for anything to distract his mind. He could not believe he had such thoughts about Kyungsoo. The feeling frustrated him, confused him. And the boy was just too innocent for his own good.

"Uh. What's with the song - uh- the Mission Impossible thing?" He uttered the only thing he could think of at that time.

Kyungsoo's lips folded into a sheepish smile. "Ah. It's kind of a habit I picked up in the orphanage I lived once. You know, it was hard to be able to feed us all well with the low budget we had. So I had to think of a way to make the limited money into decent food for the children to grow up properly.

"I made pancakes out of only a few eggs and a small bag of flour to feed the whole orphanage once. It was nearly impossible to do. I added anything I could find, anything to meet the needed amount. Surprisingly the children loved the pancakes so much. I was so proud of myself that time; thus the Mission Impossible song." Kyungsoo let out a small laugh, his eyes sparkled in blithesome.

Sehun breathed deeply. He knew he was completely enthralled. For this once he could not help but surrender to his feelings. He took the box on the boy's hold, placing it on his side without breaking their eye contact.

"The elements of this garden remind me of something," he said calmly. Kyungsoo gave him a puzzled look, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. His eyes got widened as he saw Sehun approached him, placing his large palms firmly on the sides of his neck. Kyungsoo gasped as he felt lips pressed softly against his. The boy's breath hitched, eyes as round as saucer pans. Sehun pulled Kyungsoo closer and tilted his head as he leaned into the boy, molding his lips slowly. The kiss was tender. Kyungsoo's huge orbs opened wide, staring at Sehun who was closing his eyes, his lips lightly.

Sehun tilted Kyungsoo's head to a side to deepen the kiss. His palms lightly massaged the boy's delicate neck. He the corners of his lips, brushing the sugar flour clean before once again capturing the plump lips and moving their lips together. Slowly he pulled apart, but he kept his hands on the boy's nape.

"You should close your eyes, you know," he whispered.

Kyungsoo was overwhelmed. He had not yet been able to catch a grasp of what was happening.

"Huh?"

"Or rather, Hwang Ji Ni would close her eyes during the kissing scene. As a huge fan you should know."

Kyungsoo gave Sehun a quizzical look. He still could not understand a thing. "Huh?"

"Oh. And Hwang Ji Ni would not eat rice cake balls before kissing the love of her life, although I kinda like the sweet taste," Sehun went on, the corners of his mouth were slightly quirked upward.

Kyungsoo finally came into realization. "OHMYGOD OH SEHUN I COULD NOT BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT...!!!" He screamed on top of his lungs.

Sehun chuckled as he left the furious boy behind.

***

They didn't realize that someone was watching them the whole time. The unknown figure silently left the place.

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